8-27 Page 22 | ATD Racing News

Rainy fun, free tickets and driver meet and greet at KRA punctuated by wins of Eischens, Koch, Martini, Agen, Hawker and Dittman

By Ron Krog

WILLMAR, MN (August 22) – It was almost like a “get to know each other” night at KRA Speedway, as rainouts and a break for the fair left the track silent since July 25. However, not even afternoon showers could dampen the fun, with NAPA throwing in free tickets for fans and the track hosting its driver meet and greet. Fans had a ball throughout the night, watching WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action. Winners in sanctioned action included Don Eischens, Dexton Koch, Bud Martini, Ty Agen, Blake Hawker, Matt Dittman.

WISSOTA Hornet national point leader Jeff Rohner was in the house Thursday, alongside his arch rival Matt Dittman. Dittman took charge during this meeting of the duo for a solid win, with Rohner and Justin Schelitzche fighting side by side for second. Christian Kast was not far behind in fourth, though mechanical issues shut him down halfway through the race. Dittman drove on to the win, with Rohner topping Schelitzche for second. Braxton Schmitz and Hailey Borer were top-five finishers.

It was a wild WISSOTA Mod Four feature as Tyler Larson rolled over hard coming off turn four in a wreck that also sent Craig Gertsema to the pits. Luckily Larson was okay, but very sore.

Blake Hawker, a driver who is really coming on in the class, grabbed the lead as Dean Larson and Josh Litzau fought hard for second. With eight laps to go, Larson moved into second, but could not catch his grandson Blake for the win. Larson celebrated Blake’s victory from his second-place view, while Josh Litzau, Peewee Kuhnau, and Nate Coopman completed the top five.

One of the best races of the night was the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature, as Kailey VanEps jumped out front with a pair of strong running veterans - Bud Martini and Joey Jenson - right on her rear bumper. With seven laps to go, VanEps lost the bite coming off turn four and spun in a heartbreaking moment for the talented young driver.

Martini took over from there and kept the lightning-fast Jensen at bay for the win. Jason Vejtruba grabbed third, Gage Myers was fourth, and Johnny Lindgren rounded out the top five.

A nice field of 14 WISSOTA Super Stocks had a great battle all through the pack, with Matt Fester taking the early lead. Eric Martini ran a close second, as Dexton Koch charged through the pack.

Up front, Andrew Hedtke moved into second on lap five, but a lap later Koch got by Hedtke for second. On lap nine, Koch got by Fester for the lead and drove on to the win, with Hedtke second and Martini third. Zach Schultz made a strong run late to fourth, while Fester completed the top five.

It wasn’t a big field of WISSOTA Modifieds, but a solid one. Justin VanEps took the early lead, but red-hot Don Eischens grabbed the lead with two laps complete. Visitor Cole Chernosky, from Thunder Bay, Ontario, had a strong run and stuck close to the very fast Eischens for much of the feature, but had to settle for second behind Eischens, who beat him to the checkered flag. Seth Brede, Brandon Mehrwerth and Nate Heinrich were the top-five finishers.

As usual, the WISSOTA Street Stocks gave us plenty of action, with Derek Zieske and Ty Agen fighting for the early lead. Farther back, seventh-starter Justin Vogel quietly moved into fourth.

With five laps scored, Agen took the lead, as Vogel caught Zieske in the battle for second. With eight laps left, Vogel took over second and went after Agen, as national point leader Braden Brauer moved into fourth. The last five laps were a lot of fun as Vogel tried everything to get by Agen. In the end, Agen grabbed the win with Vogel second, Brauer close behind in third, and Zieske and Ethan Iiams in fourth and fifth.

Brady Schultz picked up a nice win in the Pure Stock class.

KRA Speedway thanks NAPA Auto Parts for buying the tickets for the fans and thanks all the race teams for coming on the track at intermission for the meet and greet - the fans really loved it.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 9E-Don Eischens[4]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[5]; 3. 6SL-Seth Brede[3]; 4. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[7]; 5. 10H-Nate Heinrich[6]; 6. (DNF) 10-Justin VanEps[2]; 7. (DNF) 5K-Tyler Kaeter[8]; 8. (DNF) US-Jonathan Olmscheid[1]; 9. (DNF) 15S-Wade Skindelien[10]; 10. (DNS) 66-Jacob Knapper

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[1]; 2. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[2]; 3. 10H-Nate Heinrich[3]; 4. 6SL-Seth Brede[4]; 5. 66-Jacob Knapper[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 2. 9E-Don Eischens[1]; 3. 10-Justin VanEps[2]; 4. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[5]; 5. (DNF) 15S-Wade Skindelien[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[7]; 2. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[6]; 3. 24M-Eric Martini[4]; 4. 511-Zach Schultz[8]; 5. 2B1-Matt Fester[2]; 6. 99-Shawn Fernkes[5]; 7. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[14]; 8. 4-Jay Hedtke[1]; 9. 55-Gary Husmann[10]; 10. 19-Brayden Hedtke[3]; 11. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[11]; 12. 14-Jayden Friauf[9]; 13. (DNF) 6SIX-Forrest Foster[12]; 14. (DNS) 31R-Rob Revermann

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[3]; 2. 99-Shawn Fernkes[5]; 3. 24M-Eric Martini[7]; 4. 4-Jay Hedtke[4]; 5. 14-Jayden Friauf[1]; 6. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[2]; 7. (DNF) 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Zach Schultz[2]; 2. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[4]; 3. 2B1-Matt Fester[6]; 4. 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]; 5. 55-Gary Husmann[3]; 6. 6SIX-Forrest Foster[7]; 7. 31R-Rob Revermann[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 4Q2-Mark Martini[3]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[5]; 3. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[7]; 4. 19M-Gage Myers[1]; 5. 29-Johnny Lindgren[4]; 6. 15TW-Taylor Willms[8]; 7. 16T-Tim Kanten[6]; 8. 32C-Zach Clark[10]; 9. 31C-Tony Clark[11]; 10. 85J-Justin Jensen[9]; 11. (DNF) 10K-Kailey VanEps[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[1]; 2. 4Q2-Mark Martini[3]; 3. 29-Johnny Lindgren[4]; 4. 15TW-Taylor Willms[6]; 5. 85J-Justin Jensen[2]; 6. 31C-Tony Clark[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[1]; 2. 16T-Tim Kanten[3]; 3. 10K-Kailey VanEps[4]; 4. 19M-Gage Myers[2]; 5. 32C-Zach Clark[5]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 26-Ty Agen[3]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[7]; 3. 34JR-Braden Brauer[8]; 4. 19-Derek Zieske[1]; 5. I7-Ethan Iiams[2]; 6. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[6]; 7. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[5]; 8. 2-Joe Martin[4]; 9. 83-Doug Olmscheid[10]; 10. 84-Doug Martin[11]; 11. (DNF) 7X-Peter Martin[9]; 12. (DNS) 5F-Mike Flickinger

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Ty Agen[3]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[6]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[1]; 4. I7-Ethan Iiams[2]; 5. 7X-Peter Martin[4]; 6. (DNS) 5F-Mike Flickinger

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 2. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[4]; 3. 2-Joe Martin[3]; 4. 19-Derek Zieske[6]; 5. 83-Doug Olmscheid[2]; 6. 84-Doug Martin[5]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 21-Blake Hawker[2]; 2. 37-Dean Larson[3]; 3. 8R-Josh Litzau[5]; 4. 99JR-Peewee Kuhnau[6]; 5. 14G-Nate Coopman[7]; 6. (DNF) 7L-Tyler Larson[4]; 7. (DNF) 3G-Craig Gertsema[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3G-Craig Gertsema[2]; 2. 7L-Tyler Larson[3]; 3. 8R-Josh Litzau[4]; 4. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 5. 21-Blake Hawker[6]; 6. 99JR-Peewee Kuhnau[1]; 7. 14G-Nate Coopman[7]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 22-Matthew Dittman[2]; 2. 08-Jeff Rohner[4]; 3. 14-Justin Schelitzche[3]; 4. 26-Braxton Schmitz[1]; 5. 27X-Hailey Borer[6]; 6. 19A-Alysha Christenson[7]; 7. (DNF) 03-Christian Kast[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[6]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 3. 08-Jeff Rohner[5]; 4. 22-Matthew Dittman[7]; 5. 26-Braxton Schmitz[4]; 6. 27X-Hailey Borer[1]; 7. 19A-Alysha Christenson[3]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 611-Brady Schultz[4]; 2. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 3. 511-Colsten Schultz[1]; 4. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[2]; 5. 18-Chris Isdal[3]; 6. 71-Matt Wartman[6]; 7. 20A-Alex Thorson[7]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 18-Chris Isdal[1]; 2. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[6]; 3. 611-Brady Schultz[5]; 4. 511-Colsten Schultz[2]; 5. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[7]; 6. 71-Matt Wartman[3]; 7. 20A-Alex Thorson[4]